SH2 could be a well-done plot if it focused much more on characters and symbolism than anything else. Anyone ever seen Kokuhaku (Confessions)? That movie outright tells you who murdered who in the exposition, and uses the rest of its time to explain away and dive into motives and characters. It was very well received, actually. I think there's a thread on it somewhere here...

I agree that Silent Hill films need a longer time than most movies. I really don't think immersion and depth can be achieved well in 90 minute with most directors.

That's the problem with trying to make a movie that will be well recieved within the mainstream audience. A movie that will actually make money.I don't like it any mroe than anyone else, but you can't blame them either. That's not to say someone talented enough couldn't make a very good SH adaptation and still bring in the mainstream audience. The first movie was pretty close to doing both in my opinion.

_________________WARNING: Some Parts of Reality May Seem Violent or Cruel.

The next Silent Hill, will just be a video of the director taking a huge dump on a stack of games and wipe his ass with the instruction booklet. Then he'll look into the camera and say, "Thanks for your money"

Ok, not really but seriously. It's most likely going to be an Adaptation of Silent Hill 2. Which isn't bad, but it isn't good either. There's already so much that's been altered from one movie to the next that very little room for error with this one. At least for me there is, I've been burned twice by these movies already, I don't know if I can take more disappointment.

teosoleil wrote:

Why Homecoming?

Because it makes better movie material. Period.

_________________Value your failures more than your successes. Successes only last until someone screws them up. Failures are forever. She left...and...I'm lost.

I'm unsure what thread, if any, this should go in so I'll put it here. Is anyone aware of the Manti Te'o saga being played out on the news? It very much reminds me of a nonfiction Silent Hill plot, complete with Teo receiving a phone call from his dead girlfriend. If the film series falls all the way to the Lifetime Movie Network, this story might form the backbone.

It's hard to say where it's going next. Whether it tries something new, like creating a totally new story arc, or, making an attempt at translating another game into movie, I don't think it's going to be pleasing to most either way. It's one of those situations where nobody is going to be happy. Too many conflicting opinions on what people want and even the end result might not be what you originally expected if it goes in your favour. I've always seen it as 'Western film trying to regurgitate a finely detailed Japanese psychological horror video game into a movie'... already sounds difficult, no? Think of the culture clashes and business aspects to make the movie actually sell and the changes needed to make it so, etc.

I love the fact they tried their best at adapting the first Silent Hill in their own way. Now when the first movie came out I thought it was literally a stand alone, fan influenced, film(just because the game franchise was popular, I assumed), and with no sequels on the horizon my view was as such. They didn't get everything right and nor was it THAT bad that it was unwatchable. Although not needed and out of place it was nice to see ol'Pyramid Head dragging that sword on the big screen as well as other familiar sights(from what seemed to be more Silent Hill 2 references). The breaking of specific iconic/symbolic motifs and lore just increased my view of how this movie was probably going to be the only Silent Hill movie to be made.

And of course over time the sequel gets announced and genuinely I'm really looking forward to it! Like, it's another Silent Hill movie, who wouldn't be if you're a fan of the games? So then it becomes obvious this movie is going to tackle Silent Hill 3. Now, after seeing it, you have to agree the acting was pretty damn terrible, even for Sean. I wanted to like it so so so so so so so so much but it ended up being cringe worthy in some places. Pushing passed the bad acting however, you do start to compromise, but I feel only fans of the game franchise would be able to do that so god knows what people who weren't fully aware thought.I agree with a lot of comments in this thread, it was heavily rushed, the story bounced around so much it was the end before you knew it so I do hope the next movie is at bare minimum 1h30 + mins long. Although with a whole new story line maybe they won't need it to be so long? This is Hollywood after all.. Complaining about Pyramid Head being in most Silent Hill...'anything' nowadays also comes down to the fact he/she/it was glamourised by Western cinema(most notably by the first Silent Hill movie and additionally the appearances in games post Silent Hill 4 which were made by western devs, I think?), it's getting old to whine about it but I think it's still OK as long as you know it's not going to stop the inevitable.

All in all what I thought was the best thing about both Silent Hill movies were the nurses. They were done perfectly, more so in the first film. That scene where they're all crowded together and all move at once and turn to face the woman. Got goosebumps at that bit because it was almost like a direct transition of them from the games, from how they were acted out to what they looked like and ESPECIALLY the noises they made. I couldn't help but sit there and smile because I was probably one of the 10% in the cinema that really knew the real reason why they made such erotic groaning noises(nod to Silent Hill 2).

Regardless of what route they take I see this movie spree going down the road of the Resident Evil ones, that's if future movies continue to gross on profit(some how o.O). But what I find interesting is that the animated movies of Resident Evil are actually REALLY good in both animation and story, at least compared live action ones(maybe because they're developed in the East). Animation also preserves a world that was created in fiction to begin with as you have more freedom to be creative with the original art of the game more importantly the main aspect which is the psychological horror, something I feel the films we've already seen seem to lack heavily which is disappointing. Also directors only have to find voice actors, and what better than to hire the original actors from the games? That kind of continuity is what brings any partial fan in. I feel like animation is definitely under played in film today or at least in the realm of adaptations. I mean cgi cut scenes today in games are brilliant(Assassin's Creed 3 launch trailer for one example(the one where he kills the Templar on the horse)) and could easily be fine tuned and turned into a full length feature film.

So in saying this I think if they ever thought about it, especially over in Japan, an animated Silent Hill game movie adaptation, I think, would land SO well. The attention to detail and not having to worry about having to blend live action and CGI surroundings would prove to work in dev's favour to create a more convincing and loyal movie. I'm not sure how animated movies budgets compare to major Hollywood blockbusters but I could see it taking longer to produce maybe even being more expensive, but would be worth the wait. I'm literally just going to wait until this Silent Hill movie franchise dies out and hope for a more close artistic reboot and hope that it's animated haha( Only saying this because even the Resident Evil movie franchise is said to be rebooting in the future).

This comment is unnecessarily long but I had to wait a couple of days to get my account activated so I thought I might as well .

It's hard to say where it's going next. Whether it tries something new, like creating a totally new story arc, or, making an attempt at translating another game into movie, I don't think it's going to be pleasing to most either way. It's one of those situations where nobody is going to be happy. Too many conflicting opinions on what people want and even the end result might not be what you originally expected if it goes in your favour. I've always seen it as 'Western film trying to regurgitate a finely detailed Japanese psychological horror video game into a movie'... already sounds difficult, no? Think of the culture clashes and business aspects to make the movie actually sell and the changes needed to make it so, etc.

I love the fact they tried their best at adapting the first Silent Hill in their own way. Now when the first movie came out I thought it was literally a stand alone, fan influenced, film(just because the game franchise was popular, I assumed), and with no sequels on the horizon my view was as such. They didn't get everything right and nor was it THAT bad that it was unwatchable. Although not needed and out of place it was nice to see ol'Pyramid Head dragging that sword on the big screen as well as other familiar sights(from what seemed to be more Silent Hill 2 references). The breaking of specific iconic/symbolic motifs and lore just increased my view of how this movie was probably going to be the only Silent Hill movie to be made.

And of course over time the sequel gets announced and genuinely I'm really looking forward to it! Like, it's another Silent Hill movie, who wouldn't be if you're a fan of the games? So then it becomes obvious this movie is going to tackle Silent Hill 3. Now, after seeing it, you have to agree the acting was pretty damn terrible, even for Sean. I wanted to like it so so so so so so so so much but it ended up being cringe worthy in some places. Pushing passed the bad acting however, you do start to compromise, but I feel only fans of the game franchise would be able to do that so god knows what people who weren't fully aware thought.I agree with a lot of comments in this thread, it was heavily rushed, the story bounced around so much it was the end before you knew it so I do hope the next movie is at bare minimum 1h30 + mins long. Although with a whole new story line maybe they won't need it to be so long? This is Hollywood after all.. Complaining about Pyramid Head being in most Silent Hill...'anything' nowadays also comes down to the fact he/she/it was glamourised by Western cinema(most notably by the first Silent Hill movie and additionally the appearances in games post Silent Hill 4 which were made by western devs, I think?), it's getting old to whine about it but I think it's still OK as long as you know it's not going to stop the inevitable.

All in all what I thought was the best thing about both Silent Hill movies were the nurses. They were done perfectly, more so in the first film. That scene where they're all crowded together and all move at once and turn to face the woman. Got goosebumps at that bit because it was almost like a direct transition of them from the games, from how they were acted out to what they looked like and ESPECIALLY the noises they made. I couldn't help but sit there and smile because I was probably one of the 10% in the cinema that really knew the real reason why they made such erotic groaning noises(nod to Silent Hill 2).

Regardless of what route they take I see this movie spree going down the road of the Resident Evil ones, that's if future movies continue to gross on profit(some how o.O). But what I find interesting is that the animated movies of Resident Evil are actually REALLY good in both animation and story, at least compared live action ones(maybe because they're developed in the East). Animation also preserves a world that was created in fiction to begin with as you have more freedom to be creative with the original art of the game more importantly the main aspect which is the psychological horror, something I feel the films we've already seen seem to lack heavily which is disappointing. Also directors only have to find voice actors, and what better than to hire the original actors from the games? That kind of continuity is what brings any partial fan in. I feel like animation is definitely under played in film today or at least in the realm of adaptations. I mean cgi cut scenes today in games are brilliant(Assassin's Creed 3 launch trailer for one example(the one where he kills the Templar on the horse)) and could easily be fine tuned and turned into a full length feature film.

So in saying this I think if they ever thought about it, especially over in Japan, an animated Silent Hill game movie adaptation, I think, would land SO well. The attention to detail and not having to worry about having to blend live action and CGI surroundings would prove to work in dev's favour to create a more convincing and loyal movie. I'm not sure how animated movies budgets compare to major Hollywood blockbusters but I could see it taking longer to produce maybe even being more expensive, but would be worth the wait. I'm literally just going to wait until this Silent Hill movie franchise dies out and hope for a more close artistic reboot and hope that it's animated haha( Only saying this because even the Resident Evil movie franchise is said to be rebooting in the future).

This comment is unnecessarily long but I had to wait a couple of days to get my account activated so I thought I might as well .

x

I really like your idea, I would love to see a CGI film AND a live-action one, for the third movie I'd love to see the story about Christopher looking for his wife, and a parallel story about that prison car (homecoming?), which explains that "there are many silent hills".

i don't want to see another SH film made if it's going to be anything like Revelations (that film was utter crap).. but i do like the idea of future films including new storylines/characters. I really don't care to have spin-offs with Heather's character, so i hope they ditch that idea.

Silent Hill 4 would be the absolute best story for a Silent Hill Film! Everything is there for it to work. If done right, it would and could be the scariest and the greatest! It could explain a lot that Revelation decided to leave vague and actually incorporate Valtiel as a live being in the movie this time!

I agree that 4 would probably be the best adaption-wise simply because it felt more like a movie than any of the other games (with all the characters being killed off by some random villain, ya know?). Other than that, it just seems like the only real option is to make standalone movies since the movies change things up so much from the games on which they're based that it just seems a little pointless to have an adaption in the first place. It leaves a lot more room for creativity without pissing people off about screwing up the details from the game or changing the roles of certain characters completely (Hello Vincent!)

the movies change things up so much from the games on which they're based that it just seems a little pointless to have an adaption in the first place

The stories in SH and SHR are hugely similar to their game counterparts, and the point would be to bring in people who haven't played the games by creating a version of the story with the same concept, but with altered details so that the story now fits a different medium and different audience.

Other than that, it just seems like the only real option is to make standalone movies since the movies change things up so much from the games on which they're based that it just seems a little pointless to have an adaption in the first place.

Adaptations also change things to edit for flow, audience, dialogue, and the like. They're never going to be the exact same thing.

_________________Beyond the Joystick - game reviews, plot recaps, and morehttp://beyond-the-joystick.blogspot.com - Also on Tumblr!

the movies change things up so much from the games on which they're based that it just seems a little pointless to have an adaption in the first place

The stories in SH and SHR are hugely similar to their game counterparts, and the point would be to bring in people who haven't played the games by creating a version of the story with the same concept, but with altered details so that the story now fits a different medium and different audience.

I'd have to disagree. There are plenty of movies that are adapted from other sources that stay very true to the plots and characters of the source without major deviations. Both of the SH films deviated from the original plots and characters of the games so heavily that they were mostly just similar in name alone. It's no question that the adaptation needs to cater to those unfamiliar with the source material and make a few changes but not to the extent that the SH films did.

Both of the SH films deviated from the original plots and characters of the games so heavily that they were mostly just similar in name alone.

That is entirely incorrect.

Silent Hill (game): A loving parent takes their adoptive child to a town called Silent Hill, but is involved in a car accident that knocks them unconscious on the outskirts of the town. When they awaken, their adoptive child is missing and they are now trapped in an alternate reality that shifts back and forth between a grey, foggy world and a dark, rusted, bloody world, with each shift being heralded by a siren. The protagonist chases the fleeing image of a girl in a schoolgirl uniform, and explores several places important to that girl. They discover that their child is a supernaturally created doppelganger of a powerful psionic who was burned alive years before by a fanatical religious cult, and that their child contains half of the psionic's soul. The parent then confronts the priestess of the fanatical cult, and returns home with a recombined version of their child and the original psionic.

Silent Hill (film): A loving parent takes their adoptive child to a town called Silent Hill, but is involved in a car accident that knocks them unconscious on the outskirts of the town. When they awaken, their adoptive child is missing and they are now trapped in an alternate reality that shifts back and forth between a grey, foggy world and a dark, rusted, bloody world, with each shift being heralded by a siren. The protagonist chases the fleeing image of a girl in a schoolgirl uniform, and explores several places important to that girl. They discover that their child is a supernaturally created doppelganger of a powerful psionic who was burned alive years before by a fanatical religious cult, and that their child contains half of the psionic's soul. The parent then confronts the priestess of the fanatical cult, and returns home with a recombined version of their child and the original psionic.

Silent Hill 3: A teenage girl is on the run from a fanatical cult with her adoptive parent, but she is found by a detective who turns against the people he works for when he discovers what they want, and decides to aid the girl instead. The girl is forced to return to the town the cult resides in. Once there, she discovers she is trapped in an alternate reality that shifts between fog and darkness at the sound of a siren, and that she is an incarnation of a powerful psionic who was burned alive by a fanatical religious cult years earlier. She learns that her former self was burned to impregnate her with the god worshipped by the cult so that paradise could be brought to earth, and that she is now needed for the ritual. She confronts an emo version of herself on a carousel and later also confronts the cult's new priestess.

Silent Hill: Revelation: A teenage girl is on the run from a fanatical cult with her adoptive parent, but she is found by a detective who turns against the people he works for when he discovers what they want, and decides to aid the girl instead. The girl is forced to return to the town the cult resides in. Once there, she discovers she is trapped in an alternate reality that shifts between fog and darkness at the sound of a siren, and that she is an incarnation of a powerful psionic who was burned alive by a fanatical religious cult years earlier. She learns that her former self was burned to impregnate her with the god worshipped by the cult so that paradise could be brought to earth, and that she is now needed for the ritual. She confronts an emo version of herself on a carousel and later also confronts the cult's new priestess.

Are there changes? Of course there are. That's how adaptations work, especially coming from a multiple hour game that is being converted into a 2 hour, non-interactive medium. Are there so many changes that anyone could possibly genuinely believe that each film only meshes with the game in name? No, not even close. The makers of both of these films could and would be sued for assloads of money by Konami if they made these movies without their consent, because there is a huge and unmistakeable similarity between the source material and the films.

i don't want to see another SH film made if it's going to be anything like Revelations (that film was utter crap).. but i do like the idea of future films including new storylines/characters. I really don't care to have spin-offs with Heather's character, so i hope they ditch that idea.

I so agree with this since it's pretty obvious more SH sequels are coming our way.The whole idea is still based on SH2 as a self-contained concept,which I think it's the best coa for any sequel(s) to be sole and completely cut off any previous installments.

_________________Every end does not appear together with its beginning.

Both of the SH films deviated from the original plots and characters of the games so heavily that they were mostly just similar in name alone.

That is entirely incorrect.

Silent Hill (game): A loving parent takes their adoptive child to a town called Silent Hill, but is involved in a car accident that knocks them unconscious on the outskirts of the town. When they awaken, their adoptive child is missing and they are now trapped in an alternate reality that shifts back and forth between a grey, foggy world and a dark, rusted, bloody world, with each shift being heralded by a siren. The protagonist chases the fleeing image of a girl in a schoolgirl uniform, and explores several places important to that girl. They discover that their child is a supernaturally created doppelganger of a powerful psionic who was burned alive years before by a fanatical religious cult, and that their child contains half of the psionic's soul. The parent then confronts the priestess of the fanatical cult, and returns home with a recombined version of their child and the original psionic.

Silent Hill (film): A loving parent takes their adoptive child to a town called Silent Hill, but is involved in a car accident that knocks them unconscious on the outskirts of the town. When they awaken, their adoptive child is missing and they are now trapped in an alternate reality that shifts back and forth between a grey, foggy world and a dark, rusted, bloody world, with each shift being heralded by a siren. The protagonist chases the fleeing image of a girl in a schoolgirl uniform, and explores several places important to that girl. They discover that their child is a supernaturally created doppelganger of a powerful psionic who was burned alive years before by a fanatical religious cult, and that their child contains half of the psionic's soul. The parent then confronts the priestess of the fanatical cult, and returns home with a recombined version of their child and the original psionic.

Silent Hill 3: A teenage girl is on the run from a fanatical cult with her adoptive parent, but she is found by a detective who turns against the people he works for when he discovers what they want, and decides to aid the girl instead. The girl is forced to return to the town the cult resides in. Once there, she discovers she is trapped in an alternate reality that shifts between fog and darkness at the sound of a siren, and that she is an incarnation of a powerful psionic who was burned alive by a fanatical religious cult years earlier. She learns that her former self was burned to impregnate her with the god worshipped by the cult so that paradise could be brought to earth, and that she is now needed for the ritual. She confronts an emo version of herself on a carousel and later also confronts the cult's new priestess.

Silent Hill: Revelation: A teenage girl is on the run from a fanatical cult with her adoptive parent, but she is found by a detective who turns against the people he works for when he discovers what they want, and decides to aid the girl instead. The girl is forced to return to the town the cult resides in. Once there, she discovers she is trapped in an alternate reality that shifts between fog and darkness at the sound of a siren, and that she is an incarnation of a powerful psionic who was burned alive by a fanatical religious cult years earlier. She learns that her former self was burned to impregnate her with the god worshipped by the cult so that paradise could be brought to earth, and that she is now needed for the ritual. She confronts an emo version of herself on a carousel and later also confronts the cult's new priestess.

Are there changes? Of course there are. That's how adaptations work, especially coming from a multiple hour game that is being converted into a 2 hour, non-interactive medium. Are there so many changes that anyone could possibly genuinely believe that each film only meshes with the game in name? No, not even close. The makers of both of these films could and would be sued for assloads of money by Konami if they made these movies without their consent, because there is a huge and unmistakeable similarity between the source material and the films.

No it's not "entirely incorrect."

You give some very general and superficial similarities between the games and the movies, but if you looked at the details as well as the characters you would find that there are indeed huge changes.

No, they are not "general" or "superficial". I did not say "Both the first film and SH1 involve adult characters who have children, and who meet some religious people and a little girl." That would be general and superficial. Those points I gave make up the mass of both stories, and would provide a strong legal basis for a copyright lawsuit. Saying the games and films are only identical in name, or even anything sort of close to that claim, is a massive exaggeration.

As far as adaptations of video games go, Revelations is closer to it's source material than any other adaptation I have ever seen. Saying it's nothing like it is completely exaggerating. SH3 is my favorite and most beaten game I have, and I felt they stuck to it as close as possible, plot wise (which didn't always work, and the game done nearly everything better). Unlike many adaptations, it seemed like a different take on the story of the game rather than loosely taking aspects of the story and making something completely different (pretty much every other adaptation).

That's not to defend the movie itself, though. Whether you liked the movie or not, it did stay close to SH3.

_________________WARNING: Some Parts of Reality May Seem Violent or Cruel.

In 1SH all of our wonderful Literature 101 terms were changed from vg to adaptation, the archtypes, moral of the story, theme, symbolism etc were all changed in the film. That's why I prefer to say Gans/Avary wrote a new story using a 10,000 feet view of the video game SH1. There is no chance that copywright lawsuit would succeed if they had changed the proper nouns.

SHR was a back to basics adaptation that reverts back to the game's Lit terms. I really don't know if hypothetically, the court could hear an IP suit if the movie SHR had only changed the characters names. My guess is NO because because it is a different medium, a film cannot be substantially similar to a video game.

The overriding theme / moral of the story in SH1 was a parent who would do anything for their child, which is the exact same overriding theme / moral of the story in the film. Both games and films feature an alternate reality that metaphorically represents purgatory / hell, both speak of the dangers of religious fanaticism, and both carry Christian symbolism. In both films and games, the world that most of the story takes place in is a manifestation of a particular person's emotions (Alessa, Heather), and so decides almost everything seen by the protagonist.

I spoke to my sister, who is a third year law student, about your claim that a copyright lawsuit would fail if the films changed the names of the characters. She says you have no idea what you're talking about, and that a copyright lawsuit on either film absolutely would be won. She even quoted the law in question, which boils down to whether a person of reasonable mind would be able to see a marked resemblance.